The character development of Jasmine in Jasmine is one of the most changed in character in a book I have read. From the time she is a girl in the little town of Hasnupur, India to her life in Elsa County, Iowa, her changes are durastic. The changes start out with her names. With every new name there is a new person being developed with the one before it. First was Jyoti, the name her grandmother gave her when she was born. During the time when her name was Jyoti, her father died and she was scarred with a "third eye" which her older sisters thought would cause her to never get married. She was a lot cleverer than the rest of her family. She was able to speak English and wanted to learn more about the world. Even though she was very clever, because she lived in a very traditional town, she did not understand machinery or modern things.
Jyoti was left to care for her widowed mother while her other brothers and sisters were living their life's somewhere else. Two of her brothers decided to set her up with Prakash when they went in to the city to see a show. Prakash and Jyoti got married two weeks later. Her new name was Jasmine. Prakash gave her this name because he thought she needed to be a city woman. Prakash told her, "you are small and sweet and heady, my Jasmine. You'll quicken the whole world with your perfume." Prakash works on electronics for a smuggler and he brings home instruction manuals with the product so he can fix them. Jasmine reads the manuals and even helps Prakash fix some of the electronics. She begins to understand how married life works and finds new customs strange like calling her husband by his first name. Prakash gets a big opportunity to leave India and go to the United States to a college in Florida. To celebrate, Prakash takes Jasmine to a sari shop to buy a fancy sari. While they are in the shop, two Lions shot Prakash and left Jasmine as a widow.
Jasmine went back to live with her mother where she was very depressed and sat in the corner like her mother did. Her two brothers hated to see her that way so they saved up their money and bought her illegal documents to go to Florida and have a better life. On her way to Florida she is raped more than once for food. Even though this is a very traumatic experience, she is able to get revenge on all of the men who raped her when she kills Half-face in the motel when she gets to Florida. In the motel she is so disgusted of what has happened in her travels she slits her tongue with a knife in the shower before she slits Half-face's throat. She is able to become stronger and learn how to defend herself. She is very close in rituals and symbolic meanings. After killing Half-face, she burns the belonging in her suitcase that was her husband in a trash bin.
Jazzy was the name given to her by Lillian Gordon, the woman who rescued her from the drought of Florida and her painful tongue while walking down a dirt road. Living with Lillian was when she learned her first lessons on how to look and act more like Americans. Lillian even went to the trouble to take Jazzy to the mall and make sure she was not afraid of the escalator and to see how she walked. These two things were dead giveaways that she was an illegal immigrant. Lillian quickly realized was not your ordinary illegal immigrant, she was smart and wanted to learn more. Lillian knew she was capable of more than being a made for some family. Lillian gave her money and sent her to New York to find the professor who sent the letter to Prakash to move to the United States. She was part of the family there, she didn't complain and had a very enclosed life because she was too afraid of going outside in fear she would get caught as being an illegal immigrant. She finally realizes her life is not going anywhere with the professor's family and decided to visit Lillian's daughter, Kate Gordon-Feldstein.
When Jazzy visits Kate in her loft she shows she is not a scared nineteen year old girl. Katie has an iguana she lets out of a room and instead of being frightened, Jazzy is interested in the creature who she thinks is a strange cat. Kate gets Jazzy a job taking care of a little girl named Duff. She lives with the family consisted of Taylor, Wylie, and their daughter Duff. They pay her money each week to watch over Duff while they are at work. The name she is given here is Jase. With this family she becomes even more American, she starts spending all her money buying stuff from the television. After being with the family for about two years, Wylie and Taylor's marriage get a little rocky because Wylie starts seeing a man named Stuart. Taylor understands and after Wylie leaves and goes to Europe, Taylor starts getting closer to Jase. This is the first time in America Jase realizes she is in love with a man. Taylor feels the same way toward Jase and after confessing this to her she sees the man who killed her husband selling hot dogs and realized how impossible it was going to be to live in a big city and be illegal. The three of them live this family life for a little while but then Jase decides she wants to move to Iowa where Duff was born.
In Iowa she marries a banker named Bud, who already has two sons. He is shot during their marriage and becomes paralyzed. Bud calls her Jane and by now it is very unnoticeable she has not grown up in America. Her thoughts bring back memories of good and bad time throughout her life, but she keeps them to herself. They adopt a boy, named Du, from Vietnam, but after a while, he finds out his older sister lives in California and leaves to be with her. Taylor and Duff finally visit Jane in Iowa and she leaves with them. Jane had many lives and went through a lot. All of her past life's she was a caregiver to someone, like her mother, Duff, and Bud. She thought her reason in life was to take care of others, in the end, she finally realized she needed to do things for herself. In Jasmine, the woman of many names is caring, independent, shy, a little naive, and not a gold digger. For her to come from a small town in India and find so many lives’s to live and be happy for some time shows her philosophy just might be right. Her fate in life could have been moving a stone while she walked and then her purpose in life was over, so she kept on going until she did whatever it was she was suppose to do. Her past was important to her future, but she felt people should "let the past make you wary, by all means. But do not let it deform you."
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Jyoti was left to care for her widowed mother while her other brothers and sisters were living their life's somewhere else. Two of her brothers decided to set her up with Prakash when they went in to the city to see a show. Prakash and Jyoti got married two weeks later. Her new name was Jasmine. Prakash gave her this name because he thought she needed to be a city woman. Prakash told her, "you are small and sweet and heady, my Jasmine. You'll quicken the whole world with your perfume." Prakash works on electronics for a smuggler and he brings home instruction manuals with the product so he can fix them. Jasmine reads the manuals and even helps Prakash fix some of the electronics. She begins to understand how married life works and finds new customs strange like calling her husband by his first name. Prakash gets a big opportunity to leave India and go to the United States to a college in Florida. To celebrate, Prakash takes Jasmine to a sari shop to buy a fancy sari. While they are in the shop, two Lions shot Prakash and left Jasmine as a widow.
Jasmine went back to live with her mother where she was very depressed and sat in the corner like her mother did. Her two brothers hated to see her that way so they saved up their money and bought her illegal documents to go to Florida and have a better life. On her way to Florida she is raped more than once for food. Even though this is a very traumatic experience, she is able to get revenge on all of the men who raped her when she kills Half-face in the motel when she gets to Florida. In the motel she is so disgusted of what has happened in her travels she slits her tongue with a knife in the shower before she slits Half-face's throat. She is able to become stronger and learn how to defend herself. She is very close in rituals and symbolic meanings. After killing Half-face, she burns the belonging in her suitcase that was her husband in a trash bin.
Jazzy was the name given to her by Lillian Gordon, the woman who rescued her from the drought of Florida and her painful tongue while walking down a dirt road. Living with Lillian was when she learned her first lessons on how to look and act more like Americans. Lillian even went to the trouble to take Jazzy to the mall and make sure she was not afraid of the escalator and to see how she walked. These two things were dead giveaways that she was an illegal immigrant. Lillian quickly realized was not your ordinary illegal immigrant, she was smart and wanted to learn more. Lillian knew she was capable of more than being a made for some family. Lillian gave her money and sent her to New York to find the professor who sent the letter to Prakash to move to the United States. She was part of the family there, she didn't complain and had a very enclosed life because she was too afraid of going outside in fear she would get caught as being an illegal immigrant. She finally realizes her life is not going anywhere with the professor's family and decided to visit Lillian's daughter, Kate Gordon-Feldstein.
When Jazzy visits Kate in her loft she shows she is not a scared nineteen year old girl. Katie has an iguana she lets out of a room and instead of being frightened, Jazzy is interested in the creature who she thinks is a strange cat. Kate gets Jazzy a job taking care of a little girl named Duff. She lives with the family consisted of Taylor, Wylie, and their daughter Duff. They pay her money each week to watch over Duff while they are at work. The name she is given here is Jase. With this family she becomes even more American, she starts spending all her money buying stuff from the television. After being with the family for about two years, Wylie and Taylor's marriage get a little rocky because Wylie starts seeing a man named Stuart. Taylor understands and after Wylie leaves and goes to Europe, Taylor starts getting closer to Jase. This is the first time in America Jase realizes she is in love with a man. Taylor feels the same way toward Jase and after confessing this to her she sees the man who killed her husband selling hot dogs and realized how impossible it was going to be to live in a big city and be illegal. The three of them live this family life for a little while but then Jase decides she wants to move to Iowa where Duff was born.
In Iowa she marries a banker named Bud, who already has two sons. He is shot during their marriage and becomes paralyzed. Bud calls her Jane and by now it is very unnoticeable she has not grown up in America. Her thoughts bring back memories of good and bad time throughout her life, but she keeps them to herself. They adopt a boy, named Du, from Vietnam, but after a while, he finds out his older sister lives in California and leaves to be with her. Taylor and Duff finally visit Jane in Iowa and she leaves with them. Jane had many lives and went through a lot. All of her past life's she was a caregiver to someone, like her mother, Duff, and Bud. She thought her reason in life was to take care of others, in the end, she finally realized she needed to do things for herself. In Jasmine, the woman of many names is caring, independent, shy, a little naive, and not a gold digger. For her to come from a small town in India and find so many lives’s to live and be happy for some time shows her philosophy just might be right. Her fate in life could have been moving a stone while she walked and then her purpose in life was over, so she kept on going until she did whatever it was she was suppose to do. Her past was important to her future, but she felt people should "let the past make you wary, by all means. But do not let it deform you."
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